Drop in visits to A&E at Pennine Acute Hospitals Trust last month

Fewer patients visited A&E at Pennine Acute Hospitals Trust last month – and attendances were lower than over the same period last year, figures reveal.

NHS England figures show 20,466 patients visited A&E at Pennine Acute Hospitals NHS Trust in August.

That was a drop of 4% on the 21,423 visits recorded during July, and 22% lower than the 26,168 patients seen in August 2020.

The figures show attendances were below the levels seen before the coronavirus pandemic – in August 2019, there were 32,903 visits to A&E at Pennine Acute Hospitals Trust.

The majority of attendances last month were via major A&E departments – those with full resuscitation equipment and 24-hour consultant-led care – while 21% were via minor injury units.

Across England, A&E departments received 2 million visits last month.

That was a decrease of 6% compared to July, but 19% more than the 1.7 million seen during August 2020.

At Pennine Acute Hospitals NHS Trust:

In August:

66% of arrivals were seen within four hours, against an NHS target of 95%

1,361 patients waited longer than four hours for treatment following a decision to admit

Of those, 231 were delayed by more than 12 hours

Separate NHS Digital data reveals that in July:

The median time to treatment was 112 minutes

Around 10% of patients left before being treated